


One must learn to hold something before they can climb a Ladder.

by CloudDragon



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: "I can do this cool thing, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, But it's the type of like, Gen, I got this idea from just rolling for two random numbers from a list of prompts, In which Janus teaches Roman a bit of magic, Magic, So yeah, There's a bit of angst or conflict or something?, and this happened, not anything serious., type of angst, why are you making me go back to the basics?"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:33:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24511591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloudDragon/pseuds/CloudDragon
Summary: In which Janus tries to teach Roman magic. Can be read as all sorts of things, in terms of what type of relationship it is.Basically the result of me rolling for a pair of prompts - Which were water and lesson - from a list and then I just rolled with them and this was the result. I may make an actual fic to center around this oneshot some day, but for now this is what I have so I hope you enjoy, or that even if you don't read it you have a nice day.No idea whether I came up with the line in the title or just heard it somewhere and forgot I heard it, it's just the first thing that came to mind.
Relationships: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, No idea if it's platonic or romantic or mentor and student or what, but read it however you like.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	One must learn to hold something before they can climb a Ladder.

"So is this how you do it?" Roman asked, reaching his hands out to the body of water and slowly moving them up, bringing his hands towards himself as if to pull something.

"It's not just about doing the motions, you need to put in the effort." Janus said, reaching out his own arms, yellow gloves - Which served as a focus for his magic and helped him to use and control it - both on his hands. He slowly pulled his hands up and towards himself, drawing a head-sized ball of water out of the small lake as he did so. 

"But I don't get how you're _doing it."_ Roman said. "I can't exactly put in the effort if I don't know where it's supposed to go, Snake man."

"Focus on the water. Surface tension or whatever." Janus said. "Think of how water, when it comes into contact with other water, blends together and forms one, unified pool of water. Now tell the water to come to you, and join the water on your fingertips in one, unified pool."

Roman closed his eyes, taking several deep breaths as he reached his arms out again. Janus nodded. "That's good, keep your breathing steady. I totally didn't forget to tell you that."

Roman opened his eyes, staring at Janus. "Seriously? You forgot to tell me?"

"No, I completely didn't tell you on purpose because I wanted you to fail." Janus said, glaring at Roman. "Now are you going to try this or what? I have all day here."

Roman let out a deep breath, half growl and half sigh, and turned back to the water, his eyes closed. "Now keep your breathing steady." Janus said. "Try to match your movements with the pace of your breathing, draw in a breath when you pull the water closer and stay still while you let your breath out." 

Roman nodded, reaching his arms out. He followed Janus's instructions, slowly pulling the water closer. "Do _I_ get some sort of magic focus thing, or is that only for the one who already knows how to do it?"

"Just try first, Princey. My gloves just make magic stronger and easier to control, they don't teach someone how to use it." Janus said, watching Roman carefully.

Roman seemed to scowl for a moment, before he turned his focus back to the water, slowly pulling one hand closer as he breathed in. He let out a breath, standing still for a moment, before swapping to the other hand and breathing in again. _Trying to make the most out of the length of his arms, splitting them up instead of pulling with both at the same time. Interesting. Not sure whether it will work or not, but it's something I hadn't thought of before. Not the most efficient option, though.._

"If you hold your breath," Janus said, "You could reach your arms back out without disrupting any progress you've made, so you don't have to worry about running out of arm length to pull back." He said. "I haven't done it much - I can just make more arms if need be - but in your case it seems it would be useful."

"You could have told me that." Roman muttered, but do as Janus instructed, holding his breath and stretching both arms back out before breathing in again and pulling them in. Janus turned his eyes to the water and smiled.

"You may open your eyes now, princey." He said, turning his gaze back to Roman.

"Did I do it?" He asked, looking at Deceit.

"Look for yourself."

Roman turned back to the small lake, eyes widening. "Did I do that?" He asked, walking towards a small, fist-sized bubble of water that was about halfway between him and the lake, floating in midair. It crashed to the ground almost as soon as he said that, and he looked down at it in disappointment. 

"Not bad, for your first successful attempt at moving water with magic." Janus said, walking up next to him. 

"But it's not good enough, I want to be able to do cool things with my magic!" Roman said, a bitter edge to his voice. "Not just moving droplets of water around!"

"You'll get better with practice, Prince." Janus said, glaring at his student. "You must start with the basics. The complicated magic comes later."

Roman scowled briefly. "You keep saying that."

"I say it because it's the truth." Janus said, a coldness to his voice Roman hadn't heard before. "One good, complicated burst of magic when you're in an emergency doesn't make you a master of it. You need to learn how to hold something before you can climb a ladder, just like anyone else."

Roman deflated slightly. "I already _know_ how to hold things, though." He muttered under his breath. "I can climb ladders just fine."

Janus stared at him for a moment. "Out of all of the things I say for you to take literally, why was it that?" He asked, rubbing his forehead with a gloved hand as if to ward off a headache.

"Oh no, I knew it was a metaphor." Roman said. "I'm a master of metaphors, if I do say so myself. I just wanted to point out that I _can_ climb ladders, even if I only have two arms."

"Sure you can." Janus said.

"I can!" Roman said. "I can, I'll go find a ladder and climb it right now!" He said, starting to walk off.

"Sure, just don't call me when you need help getting down!" Janus called, a small smile on his face.

"I can get down, too!" Roman called back. "I'll prove it!"

"Whatever you say, Princey!" 

"It's true!"

(He needed help getting down. Ladders and princes, apparently, do not mix.)

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone wants me to expand this into a full work, I could probably try to figure that out, I was just trying to write something and I rolled for some prompts and this happened, but I've got a couple of ideas for this AU if anyone's interested in seeing more. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the fic and that you have a nice day and I'll see you around!


End file.
